In some ways the general characteristics of a senior house master were reflected in the way boys in the house were viewed. This was so in the 40s and 50s and I suspect is still probably true. At the risk of giving offence I suggest that Peele B was sloppy (P Matthews), Mid A upright, keen and virtuous (A Rider), Col B tolerant of all sorts of things and sporty (A Buck), Thorn A ignored the world and did whatever had to be done and not much more (F Haslehust).

A pair of houses in the same block where the two senior house masters differed as much as can be imagined were Barnes A and B. Michael Cherniavsky (Barnes B) was an intellectual, easy going, imaginative, not interested in sports, an unbeliever, he dressed reasonably and was polite and his politics were certainly left wing. Eric Littlefield (Barnes A) was his opposite in almost every respect: a martinet, a non-intellectual, dead keen on sports (especially cricket), a micro manager, religious, politically right wing, dedicated to public service, dressed very smartly and was punctiliously polite.

Now to the point: when the block was redecorated, Barnes A (ie Littlefield) chose institutional green and yellow, unchanged from the previous colours (the green was “elfin green” in the contractor’s brochure). Barnes B ended up with gray (“battleship gray” in the brochure) and maroon; a very novel and original colour combination. Did other blocks’ colour schemes reflect their houses’/housemasters’ general characteristics?

How extraordinary.
I was in Barnes B for Cherniavsky's last year, and until now, could not have recalled the colour of the walls, which were mainly hidden behind the lockers, except outside the dayroom, where the upper half was windows, and the lower half the grey/blue.
Maybe he chose those colours because he thought the ship was about to sink!!